The following background discussion includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Although a variety of electric lights are known in the art, more recently effort has been made to utilize electric lights to simulate a candle, and specifically, a flickering flame effect of a candle whether capable of being inserted into a light socket or stand-alone devices.
Examples of flameless candle devices capable of being powered via a light socket are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,328,534 to Abe, DE utility model no. 202011109285 to Abel, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,235,558 to Lauer, WIPO publ. no. 2012/162538 to WM. B. Coleman Co., Inc., and U.S. pat. publ. no. 2012/0300459 to Hau et al. (publ. November 2012). However, such devices fail to produce a realistic flame effect and suffer from one or more disadvantages including, for example, lacking a realistic flame element and lacking the ability to orient a face of the flame element while the device is inserted into a light socket.
In an attempt to address some of these issues, various manners of generating a realistic flame effect have been explored. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,159,994 to Schnuckle, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,261,455 to Schnuckle, et al., WIPO publ. no. 2006/020839 to Disney Enterprises, Inc. (publ. February 2006), U.S. Pat. No. 7,837,355 to Schnuckle, U.S. Pat. No. 8,070,319 to Schnuckle et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,132,936 to Patton et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 8,342,712 to Patton et al. However, among other limitations, such devices also lacking the ability to orient a face of the flame element while the device is inserted into a light socket.
Unless the context dictates the contrary, all ranges set forth herein should be interpreted as being inclusive of their endpoints, and open-ended ranges should be interpreted to include commercially practical values. Similarly, all lists of values should be considered as inclusive of intermediate values unless the context indicates the contrary.
Thus, there is still a need for electric lighting devices that provide for a realistic flame effect that can be oriented to face a user while the devices are inserted into light sockets.